Impact distribution assembly for picnic cooler bottoms



y 1968 J. D. WALLACE ETAL 3,

IMPACT DISTRIBUTION ASSEMBLY FOR PICNIC COOLER BOTTOMS Filed Sept. 2, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.3 I .3

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JOSEPH, o. WALLACE DONALD v. BERCHTOLD ELLWOOD E. LITTLE AT T'YS y 1968 J. D. WALLACE ETAL 3,384,264

IMPACT DISTRIBUTION ASSEMBLY FOR PICNIC COOLER BOTTOMS Filed Sept. 2. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 52 g M T \h; IL W W U 22 u I I F|G.5

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/ INVENTQRS: JOSEPH D. WALLACE I3 DONALD V. BERCHTOLD ELLWOOD E. LITTLE BY fiwvml g gm ATT'YS United States Patent 3,384,264 IMPACT DISTRIBUTION ASSEMBLY FOR PICNIC COOLER BOTTOMS Joseph D. Wallace, Donald V. Berchtold, and Ellwood E.

Little, Wichita, Kans., assignors to The Coleman Company, Inc., Wichita, Kans., a corporation of Kansas Filed Sept. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 576,911 4 Claims. (Cl. 220-71) This invention relates to coolers, and, more particularly, to a means for reinforcing the outer corners of a chesttype pinic cooler having an integral molded plastic bottom.

This invention is especially concerned with coolers having all-plastic bottoms and plastic inner liners with insulating material between the inner liner and the plastic bottom and the outer case. Constructing the bottom of the cooler with plastic is advantageous because a plastic bottom will not rust and will also decrease the total weight of the cooler. 'Fhe desirability of using plastic bottoms has, in the past, been somewhat impaired, however, because the bottom corners are readily crushed or dented if the cooler is bumped or dropped. Any attempt to reinforce the bottom with a metal liner would increase the weight of the cooler and negate one of the important features of plastic-bottom coolers.

The use of applicants unique reinforcing and impact distributing assembly, however, allows for the first time the manufacture of a lightweight cooler with a rustproof plastic bottom whose previously vulnerable corners are not subject to crushing or denting. In order to achieve this most desirable feature, applicants utilize, in a unique fashion, the fitting between the plastic bottom and the metal upper portion of the cooler so that the force of any blows directed against the bottom is transmitted to the rigid upper portion.

It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide a cooler with a rustproof plastic bottom whose corners are resistant to crushing or denting. More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide corner stitfeners of special design which may be firmly fitted within the corners of a plastic-bottomed cooler and which distribute the force of a blow received by the corner to the metal casing of the cooler. Other objects and advantages of this invention will be seen from the details set down in this specification.

The invention is shown in conjunction with an illustrative embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cooler containing the inventive reinforcers and impact distributors;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view showing one of the bottom corners of the cooler;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken from FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the reinforcers;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the plastic bottom, and;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the corners of the cooler showing the reinforcer fitted into place. I!

Referring now to the drawing, and, more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical chest-type picnic cooler, designated generally by the numeral 10, having a plastic bottom. The cooler includes a lower plastic portion 11, an upper metal casing 12, and a top 13, which may be hingedly secured to the casing 12.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the lower portion 11'is seen to have a bottom 13 and sides 14 extending upwardly therefrom.

The lower portion 11 depends from and is secured to metal casing 12, which forms the sides or outer casing of the cooler and which is generally rectangular in hori- "ice zontal cross-section. Casing 12 is advantageously made of relatively lightweight metal. The lower part of casing 12 is folded into a perimetrically extending U-shaped downwardly opening channel as at 15 which receives the upper edge of the lower portion 11 (see also FIG. 3). The bottom edge of casing 12 extends inwardly from the channel 15 to form a perimetric shoulder as at 16 and then extends downwardly to form flange 17.

The upper part of plastic lower portion 11 extends outwardly to form a perimetrically extending shoulder 18 and junction wall 19 extends upwardly therefrom and is received in channel 15. Shoulder 16 of the casing bears against shoulder 18 of the lower portion and junction wall 19 is secured within channel 15 by means of riveting or other suitable means.

Bottom 13 of lower portion 12 has formed therein upwardly extending projections 20 adjacent each corner (see FIGS. 2 and 5). The projections 20 may be molded in the lower portion 11 at the same time that the lower portion is molded. Any suitable plastic may be used for the lower portion, such as styrene, styrene-acrylonitrile, acrylonitrile-but-adiene-styrene (ABS), or polyethylene. The bottom 13 may be provided with only a single projection 20 which extends substantially across the entire bottom surface, but greater strength and rigidity is achieved if there is a projection associated with each corner rather than only a single projection. The particular embodiment illustrated has six rectangular projections, and metal braces 21 may be fitted between adjacent projections to give the bottom greater strength and rigidity.

Referring now to FIG. 4, corner reinforcers 22 include two vertically extending and intersecting walls 23 and 24 which are shaped to conform to the corners of the cooler bottom 11. Extending horizontally from walls 23 and 24 is foot portion 25. Foot portion 25 provides a right angle notch or opening 25a. Reinforcing grooves 26 may be punched in the corner reinforcer after it is formed. The reinforcers are preferably made of metal but may also be made of injection molded plastic.

A corner reinforcer is fitted within each corner of the lower portion 12, and, as can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 6, the walls 23 and 24 of the stiffener bear against the sides 14 of lower portion 11, and foot portion 25 bears against the bottom 13 of the lower portion. The upper edges of walls 23 and 24 fit snugly against the perimetric shoulder 16 of the metal casing which acts as a restraining means serving to keep the reinforcer fitted in place in the corner, and also as an impact distributor to transmit shocks received by the corners and corner reinforcers to the metal casing. The flange 17 provides additional restraining means to hold the reinforcer in place, but the shoulder 16 primarily accomplishes this. The foot portion 25 bears against a projection 20 in the bottom 13, and the notch 25a receives one of the corners of the rectangular projection. Projection 20 also serves as a restraining means preventing corner reinforcer 22 from being displaced.

After the corner reinforcers are fitted in place, plastic insulating material 27, shown partially in FIG. 2, which may be poly-urethane foam or other suitable insulating material, is placed against the inside of the casing and lower plastic portion of the cooler, and inner plastic liner 28, also shown in FIG. 2, is inserted within the enclosure formed by the casing and lower portion and is secured to the casing at the top thereof. The insulating material further anchors the reinforcers in place. Handles 29 may be secured to the casing to aid in carrying the cooler (see FIG. 1).

If the cooler is dropped, bumped, or kicked, any force that is exerted against the corners is resisted by the reinforcers 20 and transmitted to the rigid metal casing 12 through the shoulder 16 which abuts the upper edge of the reinforcer. Thus, the impact is distributed away from the corners to the metal casing, and the vulnerable corners are not required to withstand any shock. Some of the force is also transmitted by the foot portion 25 to the rigid projections 20 of the bottom, which are better able to withstand the shock than the corners.

There is a certain amount of flexibility inherent in the shoulder 16, which may pivot about channel 15. This flexibility aids in distributing the impact and substantially minimizes the chance that the shoulder may be snapped off. The invention is not limited to the particular channel and shoulder arrangement illustrated, however, and the shoulder may extend directly from the side of the casing.

While in the foregoing specification a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purposes of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that any of the details herein given may be varied by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. In a chest-type picnic cooler, an outer protective shell comprising a plastic lower portion having a generally rectangular bottom surface and upwardly extending sides, an upper metal casing, said casing being generally rectangular in horizontal cross-section, and being secured to the top edge portions of the sides of said lower portion, said casing including adjacent its lower edge an inwardly extending shoulder at each of its corners, said bottom surface having an upstanding projection adjacent each of the corners of said lower portion, a

relatively rigid reinforcer fitted in each of said lower portion corners, the upper edge of said reinforcer abutting said casing shoulder and the lower edge of said reinforcer abutting said upstanding projection.

2. The cooler of claim 1 in which said casing includes a perimetrically extending U-shaped downwardly opening channel formed by folding the lower edge of said casing, said lower edge extending inwardly from said channel to form said shoulder, the upper edge of said lower portion sides being received in said channel and secured therein.

3. The cooler of claim 1 in which each of said reinforcers includes two vertically extending walls and a horizontally extending foot portion, said walls bearing against intersecting sides of said lower portion and said foot portion bearing against the bottom of said lower portion.

4. The cooler of claim 3 in which said upstanding projections are rectangular in horizontal cross-section, each of said foot portions providing a right angle notch which receives a corner of one of said projections.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,907,486 10/1959 Perez 220-71 X 3,298,554 1/1967 Piker 2209 3,341,063 9/1967 Woorhees 22071 X THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

I. R. GARRETT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A CHEST-TYPE PICNIC COOLER, AN OUTER PROTECTIVE SHELL COMPRISING A PLASTIC LOWER PORTION HAVING A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR BOTTOM SURFACE AND UPWARDLY EXTENDING SIDES, AN UPPER METAL CASING, SAID CASING BEING GENERALLY RECTANGULAR IN HORIZONTAL CROSS-SECTION, AND BEING SECURED TO THE TOP EDGE PORTIONS OF THE SIDES OF SAID LOWER PORTION, SAID CASING INCLUDING ADJACENT ITS LOWER EDGE AN INWARDLY EXTENDING SHOULDER AT EACH OF ITS CORNERS, SAID BOTTOM SURFACE HAVING AN UPSTANDING PROJECTION ADJACENT EACH OF THE CORNERS OF SAID LOWER PORTION, A RELATIVELY RIGID REINFORCER FITTED IN EACH OF SAID LOWER PORTION CORNERS, THE UPPER EDGE OF SAID REINFORCER ABUTTING SAID CASING SHOULDER AND THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID REINFORCER ABUTTING SAID UPSTANDING PROJECTION. 